16 PROCTOR | April 2017
Toward better
justice for children
New committee and practice directions
Many criminal lawyers will have little
contact with the Childrens Court.
The experience of judges and magistrates
in this court is that many practitioners are
unaware of the ways in which children are
treated differently from adults in the criminal
justice system. This article is the first in a
series examining the Childrens Court and
the youth justice system as a whole.
In mid-2016, Judge Shanahan, as President
of the Childrens Court, established the
Childrens Court Committee. The purpose
of the committee is to establish a new case
management process for Childrens Court
criminal matters, supported by any necessary
practice directions.
The committee is also investigating
legislative, policy and practice issues that
can strengthen the present youth justice
system. This includes providing feedback
to government from those practising in the
area about potential reforms to the system.
The committee is chaired by the President
of the Childrens Court and its members
represent stakeholders in the youth justice
system such as:
• Deputy Chief Magistrate O’Shea
• Queensland Law Society
• Office of the Director of Public
Prosecutions (Queensland)
• Legal Aid Queensland
• Bar Association of Queensland
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Legal Service
• community legal centres
• Queensland Police Service
• Youth Justice Services
• Department of Justice and
Attorney-General
• Child Safety Services.
The committee is considering ways to
improve the effectiveness of Queensland’s
youth justice system by addressing delays
and reducing both the numbers of young
people on remand and the lengths of
remand periods.
This has culminated in the production of
two new practice directions intended to
improve the efficiency of the court and to
reduce the time taken to finalise children’s
criminal cases.
Childrens Court Practice Direction 1 of 2017
applies to sentence proceedings in the
Childrens Court constituted by a judge (the
Childrens Court of Queensland). It is aimed at
speeding up the sentencing of children who
are pleading guilty. It requires practitioners to
identify pleas of guilty as a matter of priority.
In matters in which a pre-sentence report
is likely to be ordered, practitioners must
liaise with the DPP and the court to organise
an arraignment at the earliest opportunity
so that the report can be ordered. Children
who are remanded in custody should be
arraigned by video link, if appropriate.